What Happens to the Patient Balance After Insurance Pays With Teero

Introduction

The question comes up on almost every call about payment posting: once the insurance payment is in and the patient still owes something, who chases it? Does Teero call the patient, mail a statement, take the payment? The short version: Teero's payment posting records the patient balance in your practice management software and stops there. Sending statements and reminders and posting the patient's payment is a separate Teero service, Patient Billing, that runs alongside posting. Phone calls to patients, and anything resembling a collections process, are not published as part of either. This guide walks through what happens at each stage and what stays with the office.

Key Takeaways

• When a payment is posted, Teero applies the contractual adjustment, records the patient portion and moves the balance to secondary insurance or patient responsibility, following the office's own write-off rules.
• Payment posting does not send statements or contact patients. That is Patient Billing, a separate service that runs alongside posting and aging and is quoted per practice.
• Patient Billing calculates the balance when insurance pays, sends statements and text and email reminders on a schedule with a payment link, and posts the payment to the patient and procedure in the PMS.
• Phone calls to patients, payment plans and collections-agency handoffs are not published as part of any Teero service. Claim submission stays with the office.

Step 1: The Claim Settles and Posting Records the Patient Portion

What posting records

Every business day Teero posts the EOBs, ERAs, EFT remittances, paper checks and virtual credit card payments that arrived, matched to their claims, inside Dentrix, Open Dental, Eaglesoft or Curve. For each remittance the payment is posted to the correct patient and procedure, the contractual adjustment is applied, the patient portion is recorded, the EOB is attached to the claim, and the claim is closed or the remaining balance is moved to secondary insurance or to patient responsibility.

Whose rules apply

Adjustments follow the office's own write-off rules, which Teero reviews during onboarding. So the patient balance that appears on the ledger is the one your office's rules produce, not a number Teero decided on its own. If the payer underpaid, Teero checks the amount against the fee schedule before anything is written off, so a short payment is not quietly pushed onto the patient.

Secondary insurance first

If the patient has secondary coverage, the balance moves to secondary rather than to the patient, and the secondary claim goes out from Teero once the primary has paid. The patient balance is what remains after both payers have responded.

At this point, with posting alone, the balance sits in the PMS as patient responsibility and your front desk handles it the way it does today.

Step 2: Patient Billing, If You Add It

Teero's Patient Billing service picks up where posting leaves off. It is not sold on its own; it runs alongside payment posting and aging, and the price is quoted per practice rather than published.

How the balance is calculated

Patient balances are calculated when insurance pays, from the actual insurance payment and the real benefit details, rather than from a pre-treatment estimate. That is why it sits on top of posting: the balance is built from the posted remittance.

Statements and reminders

Reminders go out by text and email on a schedule. Each one carries a link to a payment page, so the patient can pay from the message without calling the office.

Payment reconciliation

When the patient pays, the payment is matched to the patient and the procedure and posted into the PMS. The ledger closes out the same way an insurance payment does, without the front desk re-keying it.

What Is Not Published

Teero's pages do not describe phone calls to patients, mailed paper statements as opposed to text and email, payment plans, or handing accounts to a collections agency. If any of those matter to your office, ask on the call rather than assume. Teero also does not submit claims; the balance conversation only starts after your team has sent the claim and the payer has responded.

What the Office Keeps

Your team keeps the conversation with the patient in the chair: treatment planning, the estimate before treatment, and any financial arrangements made at the front desk. The full benefits breakdown Teero writes into the patient record before the visit, with category percentages, deductibles with used amounts and remaining maximums, is what the office uses to quote a patient's share before treatment. Claim submission stays with the office. And the decision on any denial that needs a judgment call is flagged inside the PMS for your team, with the denial reason, the payer's explanation, the appeal deadline and Teero's recommendation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Teero call patients about their balance? Not published. The Patient Billing service is described as text and email reminders with a payment link, plus statements and payment posting. Phone outreach is not listed.

Is Patient Billing included in the 2% posting fee? No. Posting and aging start at 2% of payments posted with an $800 monthly minimum. Patient Billing is a separate service, quoted per practice, that runs alongside it.

Can I buy Patient Billing without payment posting? No. It runs alongside payment posting and aging, not on its own, because the balance is calculated from the posted insurance payment.

Conclusion

With posting alone, Teero records the patient portion in your PMS and your front desk takes it from there. Add Patient Billing and Teero sends the statements and the text and email reminders with a payment link, then posts the patient's payment against the right procedure. Phone collections are not published as part of either, and claim submission stays with the office throughout. Details are on Teero's patient billing page.